pnarc180.pdf

"Residence Permits for Businessmen" did not arrive in Washington
until after the close of the A.M.A. Seminar. This was unfortunate
because this airgram could have been a basis for a more complete
discussion of the matter if it had been received earlier.)
One of the speakers, on the first day of the Seminar (May 6)
was Mark Feer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Policy,
Department of Commerce, who spoke, among other things, on the
Controls and Regulatiorsof the Office of Foreign Direct Investments,
which Office was created on January 1, 1968, as a result of Executive
Order 11387, governing certain capital transfers abroad. Mr. Feer
took a very hard line.
The impression was created among both
Thai and American attendants that authorizations for capital transfers
abroad to Schedule A countries, which exceeded 110% of the
average of each investor fioreigni investments in the base years of
l>65-1966, would be exceedingl] dit'ficult to obtain. After Mr. Feer
left the room, one person comented from the floor that if Mr. Feer's
statement represented the position of the U.S. Government that there
was not much point in continuiLg the seminar and no point in
any
further discussion about AmericAn investments in Thailand. Several
others expressed themselves in a similar manner.
At this point,
Belford Seabrook made a statement from the rostrum in which he
explained that it was the policy of the United States Government
to encourage economic growth (meaning investments) in the lesserdeveloped
countries (LDCs). He said that this policy had been
enunciated in the President's Statement at the time Executive Order
11387, above mentioned, had been issued. It was also explained
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